The Santa Fe had a branch line that went directly to the rim of the Grand Canyon and Northern Pacific and Union Pacific both had branch lines that went to the border of Yellowstone. But only one national park was on the main line of a railroad, mainly because Congress designated that railroad as the park boundary, probably at the instigation of Louis Hill himself.

Click image to download a 757-KB PDF of this blotter from the Minnesota History Center.

This blotter reminds potential passengers of that fact. I found it in the Minnesota History Center with other items from 1923 and 1924. If the blotter had been published in 1924, it would have prominently featured the New Oriental Limited, so I conclude it is from 1923.

Click image to download a 520-KB PDF of this blotter from the Minnesota History Center.

Most blotters I have seen are about 4 inches wide and 9 to 10 inches long, but some are smaller. This one looks bigger on your screen than the previous blotter because I size everything to be 640 pixels wide or high but in fact it was just 3-1/2″x5-1/2″. Yet it manages to include the all the same information as the previous blotter.

This particular blotter was printed crooked, which may be why it ended up in GN’s marketing department files instead of being sent to some shipper or other potential customer. A more properly printed version of this card was presented here in 2015.